6/1/02
Knoxville Raceway
Sprints and Midgets
40 410s
53 midgets
410s
Time trials were run with six cars on the track at a time, in an attempt to
speed things up a bit. Calvin Landis set quick time with the odd format with
a lap of 15.722 seconds. Randy Martin was second quick, followed by Terry
McCarl, Brent Antill, Travis Cram, Ricky Logan, Larry Ball Jr., Justin
Henderson, Kerry Madsen and Leonard Lee.
Heat one (started): 1. Madsen 82 (2) 2. Landis 70 (4) 3. Cram 92 (5) 4. David
Murcott 20 (1) / 5. Jeff Johnson 11J (6) 6. Manny Rockhold 21s (9) 7. Dan
Oswalt D1 (7) 8. Robert Bell 71x (8) 9. Matt Moro 2m (3) DNS - Don Droud Jr.
55
Droud was slated to start outside of row one, but an engine change was just
not quick enough to make the first heat green. Moro was smoking badly on lap
four and brought out the caution after stalling. Madsen cruised from his
front row starting spot. Rockhold was piloting the mount usually campaigned
by Brad Martin.
Heat two (started): 1. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1) 2. Lee 16L (4) 3. Martin 14 (6) 4.
Logan 3s (5) / 5. Josh Higday 24J (8) 6. Lynnton Jeffery 4k (2) 7. Larry
Pinegar II 11L (7) 8. Derek Beckman 50D (9) 9. John VanDenBerg 47 (3) 10.
Greg Jones 35 (10)
Moyle led flag to flag after a first lap tip over by VanDenBerg. He
restarted. Martin seems to be improving with his 410 on a weekly basis and
was impressive in this heat. Higday had a 410 in his machine, tuning up for
the big 410 shows to come.
Heat three (started): 1. Dennis Moore Jr. 71 (1) 2. Jon Agan 4 (2) 3. McCarl
24 (6) 4. Mike Reinke 17 (3) / 5. Skip Jackson 21 (7) 6. Colin Northway 12
(4) 7. Ball 1s (5) 8. Jesse Giannetto D1G (9) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (10) 10.
Kenny Hansen 4H (8)
D. Moore led the distance. Hansen made contact with Jackson and spun on lap
two. He exited. It was the Nunda, SD native's first trip of the year to
Knoxville. Jackson made a few bids on Reinke for the final transfer, but
came up short.
Heat four (started): 1. John Lambertz 12L (1) 2. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (2) 3.
Henderson R19 (5) 4. Joey Beaver 53 (3) / 5. Brooke Tatnell 66 (4) 6. Antill
1 (6) 7. Randy Anderson 86 (7) 8. Shane Hunter 8s (10) 9. Chris Walraven 56
(8) 10. Mike Moore 69 (9)
Walraven was shown the black flag and sent to the tail for jumping on the
initial green. Lambertz went on to an impressive win in a single file
affair, while Beaver impressed in his first 410 start by earning a transfer
to the main event.
B feature (started): 1. Jackson (11) 2. Ball (2) 3. Tatnell (4) 4. Northway
(3) / 5. Moro (5) 6. Pinegar (10) 7. R. Anderson (12) 8. Oswalt (9) 9.
Giannetto (19) 10. Walraven (16) 11. Jeffery (8) 12. Higday (14) 13. Hunter
(24) 14. VanDenBerg (6) 15. Beckman (18) 16. J. Johnson (13) 17. Rockhold
(17) 18. Bell (21) 19. Jones (22) 20. Houseman (23) 21. Antill (1) 22. M.
Moore (20) 23. Hansen (15) 24. Droud (7)
VanDenBerg got out of shape in turn one after the green fell, and Droud spun
to avoid him. He was tagged, breaking his front end and ending his evening.
VanDenBerg would later bring out the only caution of the event with a lap
five spin. Hansen exited on lap four. Antill dropped out on lap ten after
running in the top five. Jackson was the story of the race, as he cruised by
ten competitors to take the checkered.
A feature (started): 1. McCarl (6) 2. Madsen (2) 3. Cram (5) 4. Logan (4) 5.
Reinke (9) 6. Henderson (3) 7. Jackson (17) 8. Moyle (14) 9. Lee (1) 10. R.
Martin (7) 11. Mitrisin (12) 12. Northway (20) 13. D. Moore (15) 14. Beaver
(10) 15. Lambertz (16) 16. Ball (18) 17. Murcott (13) 18. Agan (11) 19.
Landis (8) 20. Tatnell (19)
Madsen jumped out to the early lead, while Ball came to a stop on lap two,
due to a vibration in the right rear. The restart saw Lee spin in turn two,
collecting Jackson, who in two laps had moved up eight positions. Jackson
would start at the back with no nose wing, but would be able to make repairs
on lap four. Jackson would still end up being the hard-charger, moving by ten
competitors. Northway came to a stop with a flat left rear in turn one,
while Landis was flipping in turn two. Tatnell was involved and also retired
for the night. The restart saw Madsen leading McCarl, Henderson, Reinke and
Logan. McCarl would slide under Madsen a few laps later and take the win.
Rubber developed around lap 13 of the twenty lapper, and those who found it
were rewarded.
Midgets
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature) 1. Teddy Beach 25 (6*) 2. AJ Fike
32 (7*) 3. Ryan Scott 17 (8*) 4. Cory Kruseman 67 (9*) 5. Ricky Logan 57 (10)
6. Dave Camfield Jr. 86 (2) 7. Rik Forbes 95x (4) 8. Rick Mueller 22 (3) 9.
Ricky LaBrosse 93 (1) 10. Dave Camfield Sr. 94 (5) 11. Eddie Sauer 77 (11)
Great three car action between the first three finishers. Those who started
sixth through tenth, finished first through fifth, in that order. Heats were
lined up by draw and passing points were used. Top four point-getters in
each heat went to the A. Two B's were run, taking three from each to the A,
and four provisionals also started.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Kerry Madsen 76 (2*) 2.
Davey Ray 2 (5*) 3. Keith Rauch 71 (6*) 4. Steve Paden 0 (7*) 5. Danny Ebbert
4 (3) 6. Dave Strickland Jr. 62 (10) 7. John Nervo 21x (11) 8. Steve Newman
11 (8) 9. Joe Little 30L (4) 10. Scott Hatton 15 (9) 11. Casey Slocum 97 (1)
Slocum and Hatton, who collided with Nervo on lap two, were early casualties.
Madsen led flag to flag in his first American midget start, but Ray was
breathing down his backside, especially the last couple of circuits.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. James Chesson 76c (1*) 2.
Brian Gerster 94x (5*) 3. Marc Dailey 2m (3*) 4. Ryan Durst 51x (6*) 5. Chad
DeSelle 81 (9) 6. John Jones 21 (2) 7. Andy Mason 47 (10) 8. Cody Weisensel
20w (4) 9. Chad Davenport 43 (8) 10. Brian Terry 69 (7) 11. Matt Estep 72e
(11)
Estep exited on lap six. Chesson dominated the even from the pole.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Craig Carey 30c (2*) 2. Mike
Hess 51 (5*) 3. Quinn McCabe 20m (3*) 4. Jeff Flesher 72 (9*) 5. Aaron Fiscus
7 (5) 6. Greg Lueckert 01 (10) 7. Ray Bull 1 (1) 8. Rich Camfield 78 (6) 9.
Brian Claas 99 (4) 10. Wally McDuffy 33 (6)
Carey looked strong, while Flesher impressed by moving up five spots to earn
a transfer.
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Steve Knepper 55 (2*) 2.
Critter Malone 95 (5*) 3. Don Droud Jr. 4x (4*) 4. Brandon Waelti 3 (7*) 5.
Don Lehman 31 (9) 6. Bryan Stanfill 71x (1) 7. Roger Miller 75 (8) 8. Randy
Fiscus 6 (10) 9. JT Stapp 37 (6) 10. Aaron Pierce 26 (3)
Pierce was a victim of the two spin rule after mishaps on the first and
second laps. Knepper and Malone staged a classic duel swapping the lead
several times. Droud drifted back in the pack, but came back strong to
qualify for the feature.
B feature number one (started): 1. Nervo (4) 2. Lueckert (3) 3. Jones (6) /
4. Lehman (2) 5. Bull (8) 6. Miller (7) 7. Mueller (9) 8. Mason (5) 9.
Davenport (12) 10. Weisensel (10) 11. Logan (1) 12. Stapp (13) 13. McDuffy
(15) 14. Sauer (16) DNS - LaBrosse, Slocum, Estep
Nervo worked the high side to perfection, while dueling with Lueckert. Logan
appeared to be heading for the win before cutting off second place Lehman,
causing both midgets to stick together and come to a stop. Both restarted at
the rear.
B feature number two (started): 1. DeSelle (1) 2. Strickland (2) 3. Hatton
(15) / 4. Ebbert (3) 5. Stanfill (6) 6. R. Fiscus (8) 7. D. Camfield Jr. (5)
8. Claas (12) 9. Forbes (7) 10. A. Fiscus (4) 11. R. Camfield (10) 12. Terry
(14) 13. Newman (9) 14. Little (11) 15. D. Camfield Sr. (13) 16. Pierce (15)
Pierce, who would later earn a provisional, exited after suffering a lap
eight flat tire. DeSelle led the distance, despite Strickland nipping at his
heels. The story of the race was Hatton who moved around twelve cars to
transfer to the feature.
A feature (started): 1. Hess (3) 2. Madsen (10) 3. Droud (16) 4. Ray (4) 5.
Chesson (1) 6. Kruseman (12) 7. Carey (6) 8. Scott (11) 9. Gerster (5) 10.
Strickland (24) 11. Knepper (7) 12. Malone (8) 13. Durst (19) 14. Beach (2)
15. Hatton (26) 16. McCabe (20) 17. Paden (15) 18. Jones (25) 19. Lueckert
(23) 20. DeSelle (22) 21. Dailey (18) 22. Lehman (28) 23. A. Fiscus (27) 24.
Pierce (29) 25. Nervo (21) 26. Fike (9).....
A. Fiscus, Lehman, Pierce, and Bull were added to the field as provisionals.
This 25 lapper went non-stop and was entertaining to say the least. Ray
jumped out early until Madsen got by him to lead several laps. Rauch exited
on lap 18 after being forced off by another competitor. Hess scraped under
Madsen on the low side on lap 20 and never was challenged. Knoxville
regulars Madsen and Droud were very impressive in their first midget starts
at Knoxville. Strickland moved by fourteen cars making him the hard-charger.